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multi keybds to same PC
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2002 4:56 am
by gangsta
I am looking for a home-made solution to hook multiple keyboards (users) to the same workstation which has multidisplay /multi-vga cards enabled (at the same time not switching) .
I know there are companies that sell expensive cards to do this , but these are just sound/vga cards with some expensive cables.
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2002 11:14 am
by Rainbow
The only way you can connect more that one keyboard is USB.
I think that there is a software that can make one PC with two graphics cards, two keyboards and two mice act as two PCs, but don't know where to find it.
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2002 1:42 pm
by edwin
If you only need to share the desktop with other users, get VNC and a network.
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2002 5:12 pm
by gangsta
Rainbow wrote: a software that can make one PC with two graphics cards, two keyboards and two mice act as two PCs, but don't know where to find it.
thanks, that is what I am looking for. I'd appreciate any info from any one reading this thread regarding who makes this software ; or at least the name of the actual application.
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2002 5:37 pm
by gangsta
edwin wrote:If you only need to share the desktop with other users, get VNC and a network.
I am afraid I am not sure what "desktop" are you referring to; a Desktop PC or the Windows Desktop.
I assume it was the first.
I have extra VGA cards, extra 10/base-t cards, extra modems, sound cards, and of course USB, PS2, Audio, COM, & VGA cables.
can't I employ all these together to achieve a multiuser scenario.
say for example, the main PC has 3 vga, 3 sound output, & 3 NICs. And a shared DSL connection.
first user = Word Processing or Office application
2nd user = Reading/writing POP3 e-mail or browsing the net
3rd user = Playing a game or some multimedia application
of course all of whom should be able to access the DSL net connection on demand. (I know ICS is another matter but I am just giving an example and DSL is not the matter at hand)
surely it would be a waste of money to go buy even more network cards if I can use the ones I have to achieve the same result. That is unless there is some benefits for having a VNC that I am not seeing here.
If you could elaborate on how this would work in an alternative VNC solution?
thanks
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2002 10:12 pm
by edwin
Three seperate networked PCs, one VNC server, two VNC clients. A bit like PcAnywhere, but this one is freeware.
This seems not to be what you are looking for.
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2002 5:20 am
by gangsta
edwin wrote:Three seperate networked PCs, one VNC server, two VNC clients. A bit like PcAnywhere, but this one is freeware.
This seems not to be what you are looking for.
I get ya , but this is not what I am aiming for. I mean to use only one PC with 3 fold outputs for everything ; multi display, multi sound; multi keyboard & mouse. WithOUT PcAnywhere or Netmeeting.
Just assume like they are virtual desktops on the same PC but each is with a different monitor; mouse, keybd.
what I need is a software to be the "brains" of this whole operation...
I remember reading a review of one of these desktop sharing cards that mentions it installs some kind of server proggie that manages all this.
This was 3 years ago so a lot of things may have changed now.
In any case, where can I download this VNC server? let me give it a try ...
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2002 2:15 pm
by soupy
Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2002 3:32 am
by gangsta
went to that company's site , and after 30 min of searching I couldn't find a trace of that product CNN/idg is talking about. I checked th older news releases and yes hey had some thing back in June 2001 but now it is not on their product list for some reason ; must have been discontinued or some thing like that.
The price CNN mentioned was $200 for the additional desktop hookups (plus user must provide monitor, mouse, & keybd). It provides only 4mb VGA display...!
the stuff...
Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2002 3:16 am
by Moonwolf
Gangsta, i think ive seen this stuff before... in a tigerdirect catalog, actually. check
www.tigerdirect.com i remember it being expensive, but it does exist.
Re: the stuff...
Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2002 3:24 am
by gangsta
thx moonwolf
As you said, they are quite expensive for the sum of their parts. I have seen them in the local shops 2 years ago but the price was an overkill.
Of course we need a server/proggie to make it work. ???
Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2002 3:32 am
by Moonwolf
i dont know if this is what you are looking for, exactly, but the part numbers on
www.tigerdirect.com for the slitters are: Mouse: p55-1002 keyboard: p55-1004 Monitor: p55-1012 Mouse+keyboard on USB: p55-1020. There is also another one, that i cannot find right now that actually lets one computer function as two, i've seen it before. sorry i didnt give lnks. im looking at the catalog.
Hope it helps!
Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2002 5:47 pm
by gangsta
thx , i took a look just now , and they seem like normal Y splitters. As a matter of fact I have one USB->2 PS2 already but this is just a normal adapter.
Infact if one connects 2 Kbs or 2 mice they both control the same cursor .
What I am talking about is sort of a virtual Desktop splitter, where each user has a different desktop used for a different activity than the other user on the same PC. This cannot be accomplished by mere splitters -- which are not the real issue here.
Computers running win98 + OS can handle multiple desktop display but that requires in addition to the hardware, a software plug-in / server application, that tells windows explorer how to handle each use.
If you look thru Windows 98 Help you should find a reference to Multi Display support; which by default allows for another set of keyboard-mouse input..... but what kind of proggie handles that? we need more than just a driver you know.
so this is my delimma
The item you said you couldn't find on tiger.com to make a pc function as two is basically a "2nd sound+ 2nd VGA+ 2nd input" single card package that does that . But if you already have a bunch of additional PCI cards not plugged in; why not put them to good use to support a 2nd user desktop or more. All that is missing is a proggie to handle them.
Now we need help with that point. Hardware multi/splitting is not really a problem right now.
I hope you see my point.
Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2002 6:18 pm
by Rainbow
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2002 12:01 am
by edwin
$80 per user. Can't buy an additional system for that...
http://www.thincomputinginc.com/betwin/download.html